Doctor Who Club of Australia

dave

It' hard to know where to start with this, and I'm not sure it's in the right forum, but I saw the first episode of Torchwood today, and thought it was alright.

The swearing seemed a little forced, as though thrown in to emphasise this show isn't for kids. The story took on a fairly familiar path, with Gwen first witnessing Torchwood at work, then chasing them, and then eventually being offered a post. (Which was very reminiscent of the first ep of Ultraviolet) With all the groundwork out of the way, I'm looing forward to seeing what the rest of the season will be like.

The weevils looked alright, I guess, but the name seems a bit dull. The revelation that Jack can't die now put me off a bit. That's more like magic than science fiction, and it removes any tension about whether Jack is ever in any mortal danger, because we know he's not. And why we had those shots of him standing on top of that building I'll never know.

All in all a fair start, but I do hope it improves from here on.

Tegan · Posted: Tue Oct 24, 2006 1:44 am Post subject:

I liked a lot about episode one, but first the things I thought were a bit wierd. I agree about the swearing. Mild (compared to some shows) but still forced, and all the swooping about over tall buildings was a pain.

The rather off-hand way Capt Jack et al reacted to being discovered. I know they have the 'alien tech' to be able to cover their tracks, but how easy was it for Gwen to break the ammnesia?

The fact that Capt Jack can't be killed because of how he was reserrected by Rose at the end of Dr Who series one poses the question, how many others on the TV platform are in the same boat? And it does take some tension out of the show. However there are still four other 'companions' (for want of a better term) who can be endangered.

The standing around on tall buildings? If he can't die, Capt Jack might have become a risk taker. But how much pain would he suffer if he fell from a great height?

What I liked?

I knew there would be references to the Doctor and the TARDIS somewhere, and I did like the way they were done. The lift and how it came to be was well thought out.

I'm glad the glove was put away under lock and key. It would have been too much like a super-sonic-screwdriver, a get out of jail free card if it remained.

The Weevil(?) was a more frightening monster than would be usual for Doctor Who, but they didn't bog the show down with it. Character exposition in episode one takes precedence I suppose. Looking forward to more, bigger and nastier aliens.

Over all? 6 out of 10. The show has a nice gothic feel to it, the crew look to become people I can care about, and I can see lots of tie ins to Doctor Who if both shows last.

And best of all? Captain Jack.

SharazJek · Joined: 12 Aug 2005 Posts: 930 Location: Hobart, Tasmania

Where the first episode of the new series of Doctor Who packed in a massive amount of material into the first episode, the first episode of Torchwood was a much more laid back and slow paced affair.

I'm glad someone else mentioned the swearing. I thought it may have just been me. I note that the swearing is almost gone completely from the second episode, unless I wasn't hearing it. I don't think there was any need to be so hard hitting in the first ep.

The spurting blood reminded me of a monty python sketch and I wasn't sure whether or not I should laugh.

Eve Myles is terribly plain one minute and sexy as hell the next. I found her extremely appealing, particularly with her regular suggestions to her boyfriend to 'have an early night'.

We have a familiar pattern from Doctor Who here though, which I find entertaining but not very original. By that I mean we have the man of mystery (Captain Jack) in control of an exciting alienesque world, and the normal everyday human (Gwen) stumbling into the mystery, a point of contact for the viewer to relate to. It's almost a carbon copy of the Doctor/Rose/companion relationship that we're already so used to. As I said, while I find it entertaining, I don't find it extremely original. We've had it for 40+ years in Doctor Who already.

It's very quickly established that the events in the series are taking place AFTER 'Parting of the Ways', and Jack indicates that he will indeed seek out and find the Doctor at some point. I'm looking forward to see how the hand in the jar (more than likely the Doctor's severed hand from 'The Christmas Invasion') plot pans out, and why Jack is so obsessed with it. But I digress....I'm starting to mention parts of episode 2.

meglos · Joined: 29 Jun 2005 Posts: 670 Location: Perth

I have just watched the first 2 episodes and thought they wewr excellent. I only noticed 2 swear words so that did'nt affect it at all for me. Both episodes were pacy and sexy and I love the bit of mystery surrounding Jack. I am curious to find out if he is pissed off with the Doctor or in love with him. I guess we will find out soon enough.

Amano07 · Joined: 26 Jun 2005 Posts: 86

i loved it, the swearing did feel forced but otherwise i could not be happier, this is a great off season show till we get the The Runaway Bride Christmas special Smile

FredDag · Joined: 01 Jun 2006 Posts: 71

I've only watched the first episode, due to tireness and time limits in my life at the moment.

I really enjoyed the first episode. I love the direction and Cardiff looks like a beauitful city, why not show it off!?

The blood spurting out of the "victum" made me jump a mile high (yeah I'm easily scared) and the dead body waking up made me jump too.

I love the reference to CSI, that was great, since I can't stand that show.

The whole story seems to flow and come together really well. It all made sense and didn't seem jumpy.

So now there is two dramas on TV I enjoy and watch (still haven't got around to watching Battlestar Galactica yet), so much better then what the Americans and Aussies can dish up. Lets get more decent dramas like this and less of the cop show/Hospital type dramas on TV.

This mighten be original but it's a refreshing change to the crap that's currently on TV.

Dazza · Joined: 05 Jul 2005 Posts: 106

Good but not great. Jack seems to lack some of the charm he had in Doctor Who.

Tegan · Posted: Thu Oct 26, 2006 11:37 pm Post subject:

Theta Sigma · Joined: 26 Jun 2005 Posts: 4562

I love Eve Myles' performance as Gwen.
Whether it was by coincidence or design, A Tale of Two Cities written by Charles Dickens was featured. Charles Dickens himself appeared in The Unquiet Dead and it also guest starred Eve Myles.
Jack says Torchwood 4. Sounds like Babylon 4* to me.
Liked the Gwen-Suzie confrontation and what a shock when Suzie shot Jack and he standing up again!
Had a little laugh when Jack says that he was going to find a particular doctor.
Liked the music.

*For those not familiar, Babylon 4 was the space station that mysteriously disappeared in Babylon 5. As you can see, apart from having disappeared, Torchwood 4 and Babylon 4 have the number 4 in common.

phase5 · Joined: 07 May 2006 Posts: 246

Theta Sigma · Joined: 26 Jun 2005 Posts: 4562

Everything Changes on Monday June 18 is TV WEEK's Pick of the Day.

The reviewer says that while Doctor Who fans will watch, for a general audience it needs to move beyond the "alien of the week" scenario.

Well good luck with that Torchwood.

Sulp Niar · Posted: Tue Jun 19, 2007 11:09 am Post subject:

So. This was my first taste of Torchwood. And um - it has potential. And yes, that means I thought it had a whole heap of flaws.

Somewhat hypocritically, I found myself thinking throughout just how fake it looked. Yes, I know, we're Doctor Who fans - but the latter is a show that has no real rival, no other show really like it, and if an episode has bad effects you can only really compare it to other episodes in the same series. For Torchwood, there is more obvious competition within the genre, and let's be honest - it's really just a low-budget, Welsh sci-fi show. I don't know what the budget was, but bits such as Jack and Suzie being shot looked hideously fake (is this why they don't do blood in Doctor Who?) and so did the Weevil grabbing that guy's neck. The ptereodactyl wasn't very good either, if only because it was in the pointless scene at the end - which showed off, in sunny lighting, that it was blatantly CGI! What a stupid decision.

Watching Torchwood on Ten was an interesting experience, because I still don't know that they see in it. Every five minutes (it felt like that) Ten would show an ad for something like NCIS or Supernatural. Now I'm not a fan of either of them, but both have much more impressive effects, sets and direction. Yet Ten treats Torchwood with its usual EPIC ADS syndrome - "He's the man who can't die!!". I just truly wonder what on earth your average mainstream person will think of this show when watching it. Effects count to people like that.

The acting was really rather good. But unfortunately, again, I think it'll be difficult for the mainstream to treat it as such simply because the Welsh accent is so... no offence to them... bizarre. You really have to listen to their tone of voice and watch their expressions to know they're emoting - I have a feeling most people watching it will be stuck trying to work out what's being said and that's it. In fact, if Captain Jack was Welsh, I have a feeling Ten would never, ever, EVER have decided to air the show.

Still, it wasn't absolutely terrible. Things like Owen's gang rape and the blood and swearing were not as prolific and offensive as I was expecting - and in fact, it was difficult to hate Owen because of how annoying he is (and thus, fun to watch). He's probably my favourite so far, which is odd considering he's really the most f***ed up.

Enjoyable, full of potential, but missing something. Hopefully this will be rectified next week.

Theta Sigma · Joined: 26 Jun 2005 Posts: 4562

Here is the ratings for Everything Changes and how it went against Brothers & Sisters on 7 (which I also watch) which I got from Phantom at knowfirst.info:
Brothers and Sisters 994,000
Torchwood 987,000 (time adjusted from 9:40pm - 10:40pm it won with 1m)

montypython · Posted: Tue Jun 19, 2007 7:06 pm Post subject:

I didn't know quite what to expect of the first episode, but I did like it. It was very mysterious, and moved at a nice pace. I do wonder how people who don't watch Doctor Who would react to the news that there was a spaceship in the sky on Xmas day and all that.

When Suzie called Gwen "the link", I couldn't help but think of Gwyneth in The Unquiet Dead.

One thing I can't stand is the way 10's been marketing the show. The stuff on their site, all the ads, Jack doing an "I believe" speech in the 10 ads, and the thing I couldn't stand - "Channel 10's brand new show" said at the end. They're acting like they made it! It should be - "A show that was actually made ages ago but just hadn't made it to Australian TV yet and Channel 10 only got it because no one else wanted it".

ADAMK · Joined: 29 Jun 2005 Posts: 220 Location: Canberra

Channel Ten also has Torchwood Declassified, the BBC3 doco (like Doctor Who Confidential) available on its website: http://ten.com.au/ten/tv_torchwood.html

They run about 10 minutes each!

Sulp Niar · Posted: Thu Jun 21, 2007 5:25 pm Post subject:

Watching the Chaser last night, I was disappointed that they didn't do a Torchwood parody! Hopefully Andrew Hansen is saving it up for when they come back in... September?! Bloody hell!

Even though the Dead Ringers one was utterly brilliant, we need a Chaser variant. Even if it's another song.

charlie · Posted: Thu Jun 21, 2007 9:43 pm Post subject:

I liked the swearing just to emphasise the nonkiddyness of the show even if it was forced.

I'm confused to torchwood 1 through 4. Were they different outposts of Torchwood or previous bases that have burnt down?

I know the Cybermen invaded and everything but how did Torchwood go from a global organisation to a basement with room only eoungh for four people.

If the cybermen invaded the whole world, the aliens came on christmas day, the dummies came to life etc etc why is it so hard for Gwendaline to accept the idea of aliens?

I didnt like the weevles or the explanation of them or their phisiology or the fake blood. My Zombie-movie-fan friend had a great big rant over how fake it looked.

I thought the standing on skyscrapaer shots were cool Sad

All in all it was better than most on tv nowadays but not what I would consider good tv. 1030 was too late for it and I may not watch the rest of the series if it doesn't improve.

Sulp Niar · Posted: Fri Jun 22, 2007 2:09 pm Post subject:

I don't think Torchwood was global - I'm pretty sure it's a purely British organisation (otherwise it'd be part of UNIT). Any outposts in other countries must have been, I don't know, illegal, extremely secretive, or, if say it was in Africa, set up when the Brits largely owned the place. Perhaps the less important Britain's got, the more Torchwood has been reduced.

Amano07 · Joined: 26 Jun 2005 Posts: 86

The Torchwood we see as far as i understood it was just a monitoring station for the rift. Which would explain why there are only about 5 people there although i'm sure RTD etc could have made that much clearer.

Edit: hehe Captain Jack just blew my theory out of the water in The Sound of Drums.

Odnet · Joined: 22 Nov 2005 Posts: 61 Location: Mudgee

I thought this was an OK setup episode. I expect things to improve from here on. One thing I really hate is that Channel Ten has this and not the ABC. For me at least, the ads just ruin the flow of the episode. And I can't help but feel that this will stick put badly as a strange little British show amongst all the American programs on Ten. If it doesn't rate then it may also get axed and that would be terrible for fans.